


Girls' Night

by LadyOfSnakes



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-25
Packaged: 2018-09-02 04:30:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8651260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyOfSnakes/pseuds/LadyOfSnakes
Summary: Kiki, Vex, and Pike have a girls' night in the hot springs in Scanlan's Magnificent Mansion. Sometimes people just need a break.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Critrole Reverse Bang! Amazing artwork done by totallygonnawingit at tumblr.

“You be a good boy, Trinket, and stay right there. Mummy wants some private time with your aunties and it’s your job to keep the boys out, okay?” Vex gave Trinket’s ruff a good scratching before waving one of the incorporeal servants over. “Please bring several chickens and some vegetables here for Trinket. And that room is not to be disturbed until our meal is delivered. We would like it in one hour, and please make sure there are also vegetables for us.”

She headed through the door into the hot spring, pausing only to make sure Trinket sat and blocked the hallway. The bear flumped down in the hall, taking up most of it with his bulk, and rearranged himself until he formed a physical barricade that would take a feat of either strength or dexterity to get past. Trinket was a good bear, even if he was grumpy that he was not allowed to join ladies night in the hot springs.

(Vex loved her good boy, but wet bear is not an odor she wanted to deal with tonight. Tonight was about relaxing.)

She returned to the spring, closing the door behind her and letting the heavy wooden bar fall to block access even more. Keyleth was already waist-deep at the side of the pool, where she was filling goblets with the fancy wine they’d snagged out of the bag of holding earlier. With a lot of clanking and clattering, Pike stripped off her plate armor. Vex stretched and started taking off her own things, leaving them in a neat pile by the door. 

“Watch out, Keyleth. I’m gonna cannonball!” Pike said once she was down to just her gauntlets. 

“Wait!” Keyleth tried to say, but it was too late. A wave of hot water splashed over the druid, though she managed to protect the goblets of wine. Her hair, which had been curling more than usual from the steam, hung heavy and soaked around her face.

Pike burst out from under the water, causing another small wave to rock through the pool. She paddled back towards where Keyleth had just finished pouring the wine, and where Vex was now sliding into the water as well.

“Come here, Pike. Let me get your hair out of that bun now. I bet that must be heavy when it’s waterlogged.” Vex waved the cleric over, and started working her hair out of its elaborate style. She complied, if only because of the goblet of wine Keyleth pushed into her hands. The braids and bun disguised how long her hair was, and soon waves of gold were floating at the top of the pool.

Once her hair was loose, Pike ran the fingers of one hand through it with a groan. “Ugh, there is nothing like letting your hair down after it’s been up too long.”

“Really?” asked Keyleth, mimicking the gnome’s gesture. Proportionately, their hair lengths were similar, but because of her height, Keyleth’s hair was actually several feet longer. “I never wear it up. Does it bother you that much? Why don’t you wear it down then?”

Vex rolled her shoulders and made herself comfortable, reclining back against the edge of the pool. “Because we don’t have magic hair, Kiki. If we don’t put it back, it gets in the way.”

Keyleth nodded, then took another sip from her goblet. She didn’t recall exactly where they’d found this fancy bottle; it was probably from one of the mansions in Whitestone that they’d burned down. She was pretty sure if they emptied out the bag of holding, they’d find a lot more treasures hidden in there. Maybe even more wine. When Vex gestured her over, she moved over to the other half-elf and let her start braiding her wet hair. “This is nice. I never got to do stuff like this back with the Ashari. I was always studying and training, and there weren’t any kids my age who wanted to spend time with me.”

“Having a brother is great, Keyleth, but sometimes you need some girl time.” Pike finished off her goblet, then went to pour herself another. She had to climb out of the pool to do so, but she just jumped in again after, splashing the other two once more. “And Grog’s good at a lot of things, but he’s terrible at girl talk.”

“Oh! Girl talk!” Keyleth’s eyes lit up, and she almost turned to face Vex before she remembered that the ranger had her fingers tangled up in her hair. “Ow! Oh, sorry about that. But Vex, have you told Pike?”

“Told me what?”

“Told you about--Ow!”

Vex tugged a little harder on Keyleth’s hair than absolutely necessary, but otherwise kept up her braiding. She smiled a little, a fond little smile that she knew always crossed her face when she thought of him. She continued in a sing-song voice, “Percival kissed me.”

“Oh! When?” Pike leaned against the side of the pool beside them and put her chin in her hands. “So you told him about what you said during the ritual? About your heart being his?”

“That was so _romantic_!” Keyleth said, in a voice that was overdramatic enough to be teasing, but more likely just the result of the strong wine. “True love’s kiss brought him back. Just like in a fairy tale!”

“Well, I don’t know about true love.” Vex’s face was a little red, though she would have blamed the steam more than the topic of conversation. It was a nice thought, but they didn’t have time for true love just yet. They had some dragons to kill, and they hadn’t yet had the right moment for the talk he had promised her. Still, she smirked at her friends and threw her braid back over her shoulder. She continued in a cool, offhanded way, “And I actually didn’t tell him about that. After Vorugal--while you were imbuing the land in Draconia, Kiki--we went for a walk and talked about some other things. Some _private_ things I’m not going to tell either of you about, only that they weren’t about romance. And then before we left he kissed me. We were in the woods, and there was snow everywhere, and yes, that part was _very_ romantic.”

Keyleth sighed dreamily and grinned when Vex gave her hair one last gentle tug after finishing off her braid. Pike, on the other hand, had a glint in her eyes that Vex hadn’t seen since she’d stared down Garmelie and played his ocarina terribly. The gnome drank some more wine, then cocked her head to the side innocently and asked, “So you’re going to sleep with him, right?”

Vex was lucky that she hadn’t been drinking just then. (Keyleth not so much. She snorted into her goblet and started sputtering.) Of course that was Pike’s first question. She clearly had been spending too much time with Scanlan. “I probably will. But we’re going to have to talk some things out first, and there hasn’t been much time for that. I don’t think he’s looking for a quick tumble. If he was, we would have been doing that _ages_ ago.”

“Really? You would have slept with him even if you didn’t love him?” Keyleth’s eyes were wide enough Vex could have easily been convinced that she’d alter-selfed them to look like Trinket’s sad bear eyes. She looked part scandalized and part eager to hear more gossip.

“Yes. He’s handsome, and charming, and good with his hands. But that point is moot, isn’t it? I feel something for him, and he clearly feels something for me too. Now if we could just kill these last two dragons, we could sit down and have a conversation about what we want.” Vex drained the last of her wine, then poured herself some more, topping off the other two women’s goblets as well.

Pike, who seemed capable of recognizing when a part of a conversation was over, or at least when the other participant didn’t want to continue, turned to Keyleth then. “How about you? How are things with you and Vax?”

“Things are...well, they’d probably be better if there weren’t so many dragons.” The druid shrugged and looked over at Vex, who was rolling her eyes. She spoke slowly, as if picking her words carefully, and stalled more by sipping some more wine. “It seems like sometimes we’re doing really well, and we really get each other. And then sometimes I don’t know so much. I’m so close to finishing my Aramente, and he now has this new path with the Raven Queen. And it’s not like we have a lot of time to talk things out. But I love him and he loves me, and I know Vex doesn’t want to hear _any_ more of this so.... I’m gonna have some more wine!”

The druid knocked back her drink, much faster than the fancy label on the bottle called for. Vex and Pike looked at each other, then clinked their goblets together and followed suit. They finished off the bottle by refilling the cups, then Vex turned to Pike. “And now it’s your turn. Do you have your eye on anyone?”

It was Pike’s turn to go red, but she played it off with a shrug. Vex narrowed her eyes at her, but let it pass. She had only said exactly as much as she’d wanted to, so she’d allow Pike to do the same. Maybe they’d get it out of her later. With a smirk, Vex finally said, “Fine then. Keep your secrets. I am banning all talk of romance from here on out. This is officially a ladies’ night, and lovers and crushes aren’t even invited to be topics of conversation.”

“Oh, thank the heavens.” Keyleth sunk down into the water until she was eye-level with Pike. It was obvious she was looking to offer sympathy, as she also didn’t want to talk about her love life. The cleric caught her eye in a pitying sort of look before raising one gauntleted hand and splashing Keyleth in the face.

The druid blinked the water out of her eyes and sputtered for a moment. Her eyes went wide, then round, rounder than was normal. The rest of her body shifted as well, her face elongating and her legs turning into a tail. She shifted into a sea lion, then darted through the water to nudge Pike in the stomach.

The cleric laughed because now she had _whiskers_ and they _tickled_ , and tried to swim away. Of course, in Keyleth’s new form she was a lot faster than a waterlogged gnome, and she cut her off before dunking her into the pool as well.

Vex laughed and fished the discarded goblet from the water. She put it on the edge and leaned back again to watch her friends goof around. They didn’t get to relax like this often enough. The last time they’d been able to blow off some steam was weeks ago, after they’d killed Umbrasyl. And really, it was likely the next few weeks would be a race to the finish, either killing Thordak or being killed themselves. (Chances were, they weren’t all going to come out of this alive. Half of their party had died already, and it was only going to get worse before it ended. Still they had clerics, and Vex hoped her brother’s bond to his goddess could aid them as well.) There wouldn’t be another night like this for a while, if it ever happened again.

She took another long drink of wine as she considered that. They’d already emptied the bottle and her cup was running dry. Soon, she’d get out of the pool and ask one of the servants to fetch them more wine with their dinner. But for now she could sit and let herself soak while Keyleth and Pike played around. Vex was going to enjoy this while it lasted.


End file.
